Northeast Missouri Rep. Nate Walker stood behind Gov. Jay Nixon as the Democratic governor took his case against a veto override of a tax reform measure to Kirksville.

Thursday in Kirksville, the governor made his case for why Missourians and lawmakers should not support a veto override of a tax reform measure in particular due to its unintended consequence of raising taxes on prescriptions.

Walker, a Republican, backed the Democratic governor in opposing House Bill 253, which contains tax reform measures and the unintended elimination of the sales tax exemption for prescription medications in Missouri.

"Since 1979, Missouri has exempted prescription drugs from the state sales tax," Nixon said at Rider Drug. "[That's] an exemption this bill eliminates in one fell swoop. If this bill becomes law, Missourians would pay a new tax of up to 10 percent in some localities and up to 9 percent here in Kirksville on prescriptions like insulin injections, asthma inhalers and blood pressure medication."

The governor was in Kirksville mustering support against a veto override as House Republican lawmakers across Missouri tally votes and aim for the number needed to override Nixon in September.

Nixon has framed the veto as crucial to avoid the accidental tax increase due to eliminating the prescription drug sales tax exemption and also withheld about $400 million in preemptive state budget cuts in early July ahead of the possible loss of hundreds of millions in state revenue if HB253 becomes law.

He defended the decision to make preemptive cuts due to possibly negative impact from the tax cut measure after slamming Republicans for promising potential benefits from HB253.

"We wanted to make sure we had a down payment for these challenges," Nixon said of the withholdings. "If I'm not overridden, the vast majority of these dollars will be able to be released and can be put where the Legislature intended them and that is helping education, helping health care and helping public safety in our state. Looking at this we tried to balance what is the reasonable thing to do and with the risks involved in [HB] 253, that was the best in the short run."

Nixon and Republican lawmakers are still at odds over the impact of the measure and up until early July, Walker had been among Republicans calling for an override.

Instead, after Nixon announced his withholdings and locally the Kirksville R-III School Board expressed its concerns over the bill's impact on education funding, Walker joined area health care and education officials and stood behind Nixon as he spoke.

"Once you know what [the bill] is, you need to make the right choice and I feel comfortable I'm making the right choice and this is not the time and place [for this measure,]" Walker told the Daily Express after Nixon's comments. "At this time I'm not going to vote for a veto override."

Page 2 of 2 - Walker had previously confirmed his opposition to a veto override, despite having voted for the measure during the legislative session.

The affect on prescription medications became known only after the measure was passed and was highlighted by Nixon during his veto address, with Republicans blaming the Department of Revenue for inserting the unintended language.

Walker said while he had voted for the measure initially, today he called it "flawed" and said that "if the people want this tax cut or some sort of tax reform, all we have to do is introduce it when we go back in January and we could pass it first bill. It could be passed in two or three weeks and then the governor could veto it again or embrace it but when you have flawed legislation let's just do the right thing, start back and get it straightened out."

Walker said if the prescription tax increase had been known and debated during the measure's consideration he would have voted against it, but noted that he did not believe lawmakers would have put it on the governor's desk in its current form.

"Why can't we start with an open dialogue with the governor and Democratic leaders," Walker asked. "We all want jobs but now we clearly know what's in this legislation. It's a flawed bill. When you have a flawed bill, you have a flawed bill."

The income tax cut was among the Republican-led Legislature's top priorities, according to the Associated Press, and was designed as a response to a similar but more sweeping tax proposal last year in Kansas.

Under the proposal, there would be a phased-in 50 percent deduction over five years for business income reported on individual income tax returns while the state's corporate income tax rate would be trimmed nearly in half while the top tax rate for individuals would be reduced from 6 percent to 5.5 percent over the next decade, according to the AP.